David's Little House Star Profiles and Trivia

Brion James was born February 20, 1945, in Redlands, California. The family soon moved to Beaumont, California (between Los Angeles and Palm Springs), where his parents Jimmy and Ida Mae James built and operated a movie theater, where stars such as Gene Autry would occasionally stop by. After graduating from Beaumont High School in 1962, Brion attended San Diego State University, majoring in theater arts. Upon graduation he moved to New York to study acting while working a variety of jobs to support himself in the early years. He also did a stint in the National Guard.

He and fellow actor Tim Thomerson served in the army together and later made several films together. A veteran of over 100 television and 120+ movie roles, James is best remembered for roles such as the replicant Leon in Blade Runner (1982), Gen. Munro in The Fifth Element (1997), Big Teddy in Cabin Boy (1994), Max Jenke in The Horror Show (1989) (his personal favorite) as well as countless other parts in films like Southern Comfort (1981), The Player (1992), Tango & Cash (1989), 48 Hrs. (1982), Another 48 Hrs. (1990), Enemy Mine (1985) and Silverado (1985).

Brion who died in Malibu, Ca.in August of 1999 of a heart attack, is survived by two brothers, Craig James of Scottsdale, Arizona, Chester James of Beaumont, California and their families.
He was 54 years old.

In August 1999, shortly before his death,when asked to what he attributes his success: “Hard work. You gotta study, man. It's like any profession. I did eight years in theater. I studied two years in school in New York with Stella Adler, the best teacher in the world. I studied under Nina Foch, I did theater, I learned my craft. You got to learn how to build a character, there's a way to do it. Everything I ever did was different. I did 125 films, and over 100 television shows, and you've never seen the same character twice. I think now, in my 50s, with [Robert Duvall], [Albert Finney] and [Gene Hackman], those guys are getting up there in their 60s, it's my time. And I'm making sure that I push myself into their slot. So, my best work's coming. I consider myself a classical character actor like Lon Chaney, Wallace Beery, Charles Laughton. I always like to play bad guys. I’m real good at psychotic behavior.”

From 1964 through 2005, he appeared in over 165 titles both in movies and television.

One Episode of Little House
A Faraway Cry – 1982 – Amos

Starletta’s Autobiography

Starletta DuPois, born in July of 1941 in Philadelphia, Pa., is an actress known for films such as the cult classic "Friday After Next," with Ice Cube and Mike Epps, as well as "First Sunday" and Martin Lawrence's blockbuster hit, "Big Momma's House." Iconic producer Oliver Stone tapped her for his gritty urban drama, "South Central," and she's co-starred with many other notables including, the late Whitney Houston and Angela Bassett in "Waiting to Exhale," Jack Nicholson and Michelle Pfieffer in "Wolf," and Denzel Washington in "Ricochet," and in the box office smash "The Notebook" directed by Nick Cassavetes (John Q.) and co-starring Gena Rowlands and James Garner.

Most recently she co-starred in the Pan Africa Film Festival's top prize winning film, "Ties That Bind," co-starred with Phillip Baker Hall in "Duck," and costars with Louis Gossett, Jr. in the critical acclaimed film "The Least Among You." Television audiences are well acquainted with DuPois from her growing list of series and movie-of-the-week guest appearances, including a recurring role on the runaway hit "Lost" with Harold Perrineau, "Cold Case" with Thom Barry, and "K-Ville" with Anthony Anderson. Among her other television appearances are ABC's "One Life to Live," "The Road to Galveston," co-starring with Cicely Tyson, "City of Angels" "Chicago Hope," "The District," "The Steve Harvey Show," "Any Day Now," "Through Hazel Eyes" with Jane Seymour and HBO's critically acclaimed "Strapped," as well as a series' regular on PBS' "Up and Coming." Her theatrical roots run deep with dozens of performances including the St.Louis Black Repertory Company productions of "Intimate Apparel," "Before It Hits Home," August Wilson's "King Hedley II"-all of which garnered prize nominations, as well as, the coveted Woodie King, Jr. Award for her work as Best Actress in a Drama during the 2005-2006 season.

Other notable highlights of her remarkable theatre career include "The Mighty Gents" for which she earned a Tony Award nomination and Mark Taper Forum's production of "Miss Evers Boys" (NAACP Image Award Nomination). She also has the distinction of being the very rare performer to have portrayed all three female roles in Lorraine Hansberry's master work, "A Raison in the Sun." In addition to the playing opposite Danny Glover in the landmark PBS production (Earning the NAACP Image Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama), she recently received much acclaim for her best show stopping turn as Lena Younger in the Royal Exchange Theatre revival production held in Manchester, England; From that performance she won the Best Actress Award.

She returned to the United Kingdom reprising the role in London's West End. DuPois' uncanny talent for capturing the essence of each character has carried her abroad to perform in Rome and Japan, leaving a trail of critical raves in her wake. Her portrayals of August Wilson's timeless characters in "Fences," "The Piano Lesson," (directed by Lloyd Richards and opposite Samuel L. Jackson and Charles S. Dutton) and "Joe Turner's Come and Gone" with Delroy Lindo, were nothing less than brilliant. A Philadelphia native, she hold M.F.A. in Theatre Arts from UCLA where she graduated magna cum laude. In addition to being involved in a myriad of civic and philanthropic endeavors, she mentors inspiring artists and serves as an adjunct professor in the Theatre Arts Department at the University of Southern California. During off-season, she can be found on tour with her highly successful one-woman show, "Order My Steps."

From 1964 thru 2012, she has appeared in sixty five television and movie productions.

One Little House Episode
Make A Joyful Noise – 1981 - Freda
Shown Here Opposite Ketty Lester

Did you know that EJ Andre played Saint Peter in the Godsister? Season Five - 1978, several years before he portrayed Uncle Jeb in "The Lost Ones".

George Wallace was born in June of 1917 in New York and, at age 13, moved with his mom and her new husband to McMechen, West Virginia, a coal mining town where the boy began working in the mines. He joined the Navy in 1936, got out in 1940, and then went right back in again when World War II started. A chief boatswain's mate, he ended up in Los Angeles after a total of eight years in the service.

Wallace supported himself with an array of odd jobs, from working for a meat packer ("knockin' steers in the head") to lumber-jacking in the High Sierras. A stint as a singing bartender attracted the attention of Hollywood columnist Jimmy Fidler, who helped him get his show-biz start. Wallace enrolled in drama school in the late 1940s, while earning his living tending the greens at MGM. He soon began landing jobs in films and TV, most notably as Commando Cody in the Republic serial Radar Men from the Moon (1952). He later made his Broadway debut in Richard Rodgers' "Pipe Dreams," replaced John Raitt in "The Pajama Game" and was nominated for a Tony for his leading role in "New Girl in Town" with Gwen Verdon. Other stage roles have included "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" opposite Ginger Rogers, "Jennie" with Mary Martin, "Most Happy Fella" (during production, he met his present wife, actress Jane A. Johnston), "Camelot" (as King Arthur), "Man of La Mancha," "Company," and more.

In 1960, his career was stalled when a horse fell on him and broke his back during the making of an episode of TV's "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color" (1954)'s "Swamp Fox." His painful recovery took seven months.

Wallace's great-great-grandfather was Admiral George Dewey, the hero of the Spanish-American War of 1898. His parents gave him the middle name of "Dewey" in honor of him. Wallace's great-great grandfather's correct title was, "Admiral of the Navy". It was made just for him. No other person is U.S. Military History has held that rank.

Fell whilst on vacation in Pisa, Italy. The injuries he sustained and the complications from it led to his death at the age of 88 in July of 2005.

He appeared in over 210 titles from 1954 through 2005.

He Was In One Episode of Little House
The Godsister – 1978 – As Perkins (Center)

Dolph Sweet was an American actor, credited with nearly 70 television and film roles as well as several roles in stage productions.

Born Adolphus Jean Sweet in July of 1920 in New York, New York, his father was an auto mechanic and his first ambition was playing football. In 1939, he attended the University of Alabama; however, he was called away from his education for a tour of duty in World War II with the US Army Air Force, serving as a navigator on B-24 Liberator bomber aircraft. During his service, he was shot down over Romania while flying on Operation Tidal Wave, and subsequently spent two years as a POW.

After the war, he played semi-pro football and boxed as he worked on a masters degree from Columbia University. He went on to head up the drama department at Barnard College. Shortly after, he made his Broadway debut in Rhinoceros which starred Zero Mostel.

His first major film role was in the motion picture The Young Doctors in 1961. He went on to make numerous guest appearances in films and on television through the 1960s, including roles on The Defenders, The Edge of Night, Finian's Rainbow (1968) as the Sheriff and Dark Shadows. In his personal life he married and had a son. This marriage ended in divorce before the mid-1970s; Sweet later remarried.

Through the 1970s, he was much in demand. Sweet had roles in films such as Colossus: The Forbin Project, The Out-of-Towners, The Lords of Flatbush, The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training, Fear Is the Key, Which Way Is Up?, The Wanderers, Go Tell The Spartans and Heaven Can Wait. In addition to film roles, he also had guest starring roles on Little House on the Prairie and Mrs. Columbo. He had a notable role as FBI director J. Edgar Hoover in the 1978 television miniseries King, based on the life of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.
He was well known for his role as policeman Gil McGowan, third husband of Ada Hobson, on the soap opera Another World (1972–1977).

As the 1980s began, Sweet worked steadily in such films as Reds and television series like Hill Street Blues and Hart to Hart.

Sweet is probably best remembered for his role as cantankerous police chief and father Carl Kanisky, who was constantly at odds with housekeeper Nell Carter on the sitcom Gimme a Break!, a role he played from 1981 until his death. Sweet was diagnosed with cancer during the series' fourth season, but continued to work. Dolph Sweet died on May 8, 1985; his final appearance on Gimme a Break! aired 3 days later, coincidentally, on the day of his funeral.

He appeared in sixty five productionS from 1961 through 1985.

One Episode of Little House
The Godsister -1978- Swaggart

Born in the USA on 20 May 1917, Patrick Sullivan Burke often was placed in fantasy roles. His first role was as a leprechaun in "Darby O'Gill and the Little People" [Walt Disney Productions, 1959]. Over the years he appeared in a dozen projects for TV and the big screen, cast variously as a witch, a soldier, a bartender.

In "Sextette" [1978], he played a live person, namely the Irish Delegate. The same year he was seen in "Lord of the Rings" and he played the Head Angel on an episode of "Little House on the Prairie" before retiring.

He appeared in twelve productions from 1959 thru 1978.

Patrick Sullivan Burke died at age 76 on 3 January 1994 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

One Episode of Little House
The Godsister – 1978 – Head Angel - His Last Role

These are great! I never made the St. Peter/Uncle Jed connection. I have to start paying more attention! LOL

I also enjoyed Dolph Sweet on 'Gimme a Break.' R.I.P.

Remember when Charles gave Carolyn a necklace in "I Remember, I Remember"? They were Job's Tears. Here is a little info on them.....


Job's Tears (Coix lacryma-jobi), Coixseed, Tear Grass, adlay, or adlai, is a tall grain-bearing tropical plant of the family Poaceae (grass family) native to Southeast Asia but elsewhere cultivated in gardens as an annual. It has been naturalized in the southern United States and the New World tropics. In its native environment it is grown in higher areas where rice and corn do not grow well. Job's Tears are also commonly sold as Chinese pearl barley in Asian supermarkets, although C. lacryma-jobi is not closely related to barley (Hordeum vulgare).

There are two main varieties of the species.
1.Wild type Coix lacryma-jobi var. stenocarpa and var. monilifer has hard shelled pseudocarps which are very hard, pearly white, oval structures used as beads for making rosaries, necklaces, and other objects.
2.Cultivated type Coix lacryma-jobi var. ma-yuen is harvested as a cereal crop, has soft shell, and is used medicinally in parts of Asia.

Job's tears are known by many different names across the world:
Sanskrit: Vyjanti beads, gavedhuka, Moosho capuanas
Chinese: The plants are called chuān gǔ (川谷) or yì yǐ (薏苡). The grains are called yì rén (薏仁) or yì mǐ (薏米).
Vietnamese: bo bo, hột bo bo (hột meaning "seed"), cườm gạo, or ý dĩ (derived from the Chinese 薏苡)
Japanese: juzudama (数珠玉 or ジュズダマ) or hatomugi (鳩麦 or ハトムギ)
Korean: yulmu (율무) in [1]
Malay: bali
Thai: luk dueai (ลูกเดือย)
English Job's tears
Indonesian jali, hanjeli
Filipino adlai

Born in Scottsboro, Alabama, on July 17, 1914, Lucille Benson was adopted by her aunt, Mrs. John Benson, after her mother died of tuberculosis. She was valedictorian and president of her Jackson County High School class at Jackson County High School. She attended Huntingdon College, in Montgomery, and later attended Northwestern's School of Drama, in Evanston, Illinois. After a short career as a teacher, she went to New York around 1930.

Her career started in New York in the 1930s. She appeared on Broadway in several plays including, The Doughgirls, The Day Before Spring, Happy Birthday, As The Girls Go, Hotel Paradiso, Period of Adjustment and Walking Happy. She performed at the Coconut Grove Playhouse, in Miami, appearing in the Tennessee Williams play, Orpheus Descending.

Benson's break in motion pictures occurred while performing with Donald O'Conner in the play Little Me during a three-month run in Las Vegas. She said, "While I was in Las Vegas, a former agent in Hollywood called to ask me to come up Hollywood to tryout for a Paramount film. I went to Hollywood, tried out and was cast for the part in which I played opposite Robert Redford in Little Fauss and Big Halsy."

Ms. Benson also played the role of the owner of the Snake-A-Rama on the Steven Speilberg 1971 movie Duel, starring Dennis Weaver.

Her big commercial break was Bosom Buddies, a situation comedy based on Some Like It Hot. During the show's first season (1980–1981), Benson played "Lilly Sinclair," the manager of the Susan B. Anthony Hotel where two young men (Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari) dressed as women to take advantage of the dirt-cheap rent.

She is thought to be the actress seen reciting the Lord's Prayer in the memorable train holdup scene of the classic western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). However, she is uncredited, and no such role is listed in the Internet Movie Database. She did work with the stars of that film in the following year: with Paul Newman in WUSA, and with Robert Redford in Little Fauss and Big Halsy.

She died on February 17, 1984, in her native Scottsboro, Alabama, aged 69, from liver cancer. She was cremated and her remains are in Cedar Hill Cemetery near the rear of Unclaimed Baggage Center. She was 69 years old.

She was in seventy seven titles from 1952 through 1983.

Selected Movie Roles
• Mame (1974)
• Betrayal (1974)
• Silver Streak (1976)
• Collision Course (1976)
• Black Market Baby (1977)
• The Greatest (1977)
• Ebony, Ivory and Jade (1979)
• Charleston (1979)
• 1941 (1979)
• Concrete Cowboys (1979)
• Halloween II (1981)
• Amy (1981)
• When Your Lover Leaves (1983)
• Moon Face (released after her death in 1984)
Selected Television Roles
• Alice
• Bonanza
• Bosom Buddies
• Bring 'Em Back Alive
• Cannon
• The Dukes of Hazzard
• Eight is Enough
• Emergency!
• How the West Was Won
• Little House on the Prairie
• The Love Boat
• Mannix
• The New Andy Griffith Show
• Petrocelli
• Police Woman
• The Ropers
• Simon & Simon
• Trapper John, M.D.
• The Waltons
• Wonder Woman
• The Wonderful World of Disney
One Little House Episode
Sweet Sixteen – 1980 – Miss Trimble

Chris Cashion lived in Sonora, California where a lot of Little House was filmed. Michael offered him a bit part in "Injun Kid" while he was in high school. Here's what he had to say...........

"Sonora was the location they used for the country backdrops for Little House. They came up to film almost every summer. They were always having baseball games with town people. My brother and I would hang out with Michael Landon’s daughter and son. Jonathan Gilbert came over to my house and hung out with my brother Mark.

At the age of 16 I was a freshman at Sonora High School and was studying acting. Michael Landon offered me a role playing a bully in the episode “Injun Kid” (which also starred Willie Aames from Eight is Enough). I was also offered the line, Aah come on Seth ain’t ya had enough, which was later cut out. The scene was of me and three other bullies chasing the injun kid to a watering hole. There we surround him. I then get jumped by the injun kid and a fight breaks out. I remember being asked for an autograph from a young girl that happened to go to my high school. I just got jumped in the water and it was freezing cold that morning. I was dripping wet and itching badly in my wool undergarments but I signed something for her. I now had caught the acting bug….
Working on Little House was one of the best experiences of my life."

 

Remember the dust storm in "The Wedding"? The blind girl that gets lost in the storm and Adam and Mary find her under a loading dock? The character's name was Susan Goodspeed played by Michelle Downey. She played that role in nineteen episodes of Little House from 1978 through 1980. There is no biographical info available on her. She appeared in a total of twelve programs from 1979 throgh 1988. Besides Little House, they included Out of The Blue, Mork and Mindy, Lou Grant, The Facts of Life, Father Murphy, Young Hearts and her last role was on Young Hearts in 1988.

Scene From "The Wedding" In The Storm
Under The Loading Dock. This was The Same
Loading Dock The Guy On The Left
Lived Under Before Going To Walnut Grove. (Pardon The Dust!)

Marie Denn was born Marie Elizabeth Pearce in April of 1921 in Massachusetts. She was in 26 productions, mostly televeision during a career that lasted from 1962 through 1989. Some of them included CHiPs, The Rockford Files, Newhart, Cagney & Lacey, St, Elsewhere, Murphy Brown, and Family Ties. She played Helen in an episode of Highway To Heaven entitled Hotel of Dreams. Her last appearance was in 6 episodes of the TV series 13 East as Gertrude Boynton in 1989.

She passed away in September of 1991 at the age of 70 in Los Angeles, California.

One Episode of Little House
Crossed Connections - 1979
As Alice Garvey's Mother
Jonathon Visited Her With Charles

Bio Courtesy of Valerie Elson - Donald's Wife of 17 years This July........

Donald Elson, born in Chicago, Illinois in March of 1923 in Chicago, Illinois, was raised in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, just a "whoop and a holler" from Hollywood. He was a young college student at the outbreak of WWII. After serving in the Air Force, he attended the Columbia Radio School of Broadcasting on the GI Bill and pursued a career as a radio announcer at stations in Texas and Oklahoma before returning to college. He graduated from the University of Southern California with a BA degree in Theatre Arts in 1949 and headed to New York. Elson became a successful Broadway actor, appearing in "Inherit The Wind," "Desire Under the Elms," "Peter Pan," "Threepenny Opera" and numerous off-Broadway productions. He returned to Hollywood in the early 1960s, "saddling up" in a string of TV Westerns.

His skill and craftsmanship have enabled him to portray a wide variety of characters. Why is that craggy face so familiar? Because we've seen it a thousand times in television series, anthologies and Movies of the Week . . . as well as countless television commercials!

He was in 48 titles, both in television and movies from 1953 through 2010. On March 31 st he will be ninety years old.

Some of his appearances included Sugarfoot, Lawman, The Rifleman, The Cincinnati Kid, Shane, Batman, The Big Valley, Bonanza, Ironside, Gremlins, Murder She Wrote, and Gideon’s Crossing. In 2010 he appeared as a Roman Soldier in the TV series Lopez Tonight.

Five Episodes of Little House
You’ll Remember Him Best As Fred The Bartender In Winoka
Stone Soup – 1982 – Farmer
Blind Journey – Part 1 – 1978 – Fred
There’s No Place Like Home – Part 1 – 1978 – Fred
As Long As Were Together – Part 1&2 – 1978 - Fred

Scene From Blind Journey (Center) Opposite Michael and Moses Gunn

Donald and His Wife Valerie At A Valentines Day Dance

Born in July of 1919 in Los Angeles, K.T. Stevens certainly had the requisite genes for an acting career as her father was the legendary director Sam Wood and her mother was a stage performer. She wasted no time either. By the time she was 2 years old, she had made her film debut in her father's silent classic Peck's Bad Boy (1921), which starred Jackie Coogan. Christened Gloria Wood, she was billed "Baby Gloria Wood" as a toddler. Following high school, she decided to pursue acting full-time, taking drama lessons and apprenticing in summer stock. In 1938, she toured in two productions: "You Can't Take It with You" and "My Sister Eileen". The following year, she made her Broadway debut in a walk-on role in "Summer Light", which was directed by Lee Strasberg. At this point, she was calling herself "Katharine Stevens" (after her favorite actress, Katharine Hepburn), as she did not want to ride on her famous father's coattails. Eventually, she settled on the initials "K.T." which she felt added mystery and flair. Although her film career subsided, she flourished on radio ("Junior Miss") and on the Broadway stage where "The Man Who Came to Dinner" (1940), "Yankee Point" (1942) and "Nine Girls" 1943) helped boost her reputation. K.T. met actor Hugh Marlowe after they appeared together on Broadway in "The Land Is Bright" (1941). Co-starring in a 1944 Chicago production of "The Voice of the Turtle", they married in 1946. The couple went on to grace more than 20 stage shows together, including a Broadway production of the classic film Laura (1944), in which she played the mysterious title role and he played the obsessed detective. In the 1950s, K.T. moved to TV episodics with "Perry Mason" (1957), "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" (1955) and "The Big Valley" (1965), just a few of her guest appearances. She possessed an open-faced prettiness and seemed ideal for film noir, but her chance to breakthrough never materialized despite decent roles in Kitty Foyle (1940), which was directed by her father, The Great Man's Lady (1942) starring Barbara Stanwyck, Port of New York (1949) with Yul Brynner, Vice Squad (1953) featuring Paulette Goddard and the sci-fi film Missile to the Moon (1958). Following her 1967 divorce from Marlowe, K.T. abandoned acting for a time in favor of teaching nursery school. She eventually returned to TV and made some strides in daytime soaps, most notably "The Young and the Restless" (1973). She also served three terms as President of the L.A. local branch of AFTRA. K.T. had two sons, Jeffrey Marlowe, born in 1948 and Christian, born in 1951, the latter best known these days as sportscaster Chris Marlowe..

Perhaps best remembered as TV's "Vanessa Prentiss" in the long-running soap opera, "The Young and the Restless" (1973).

She was the daughter of film director Sam Wood and younger sister of actress Jeane Wood.
Appeared in sixty five titles from 1921 through 1994.

Passed away in June of 1994 at the age of 74 in Los Angeles, California.

Should be noted, that her scenes were edited out in some versions of "A Matter of Faith" on television. She played the mother of the injured child that Doc Baker left to see before examining the cut on Carolyn's leg.

One Little House Episode
A Matter of Faith – 1976 – Mrs. Cullers

Morgan Adair Jones was born in June of 1928 in Wooster, Ohio. He was an American film and television actor. His acting credits, which included more than 170 roles in television, included reoccurring appearances in Highway Patrol during the 1950s and The Blue Angels.

Jones was born in Wooster, Ohio. He enlisted the United States Navy and moved to California when he was stationed at Naval Base Coronado. His approximately twenty-five screen credits included a lead role in the 1957 science fiction film, Not of This Earth, by Roger Corman, as well as other castings in Apache Woman in 1955, Forbidden Planet in 1956, Fear Strikes Out in 1957, Bells Are Ringing in 1960.

Jones was married twice, and unfortunately became a widower in both marriages. His first marriage was to actress and talent agent, Joan Granville. His second wife, Carole Tetzlaff, whom he married in 1970s, was the daughter of cinematographer, Ted Tetzlaff.

Jones relocated to Hollywood after leaving the U.S. Navy in order to pursue acting. His first professional acting role was a small part in the 1952 musical, Singin' in the Rain.


Morgan Jones died in Tarzana, California, on January 13, 2012, at the age of 83. He was survived by his son and his granddaughter.

He Was In One Little House Episode
A Matter of Faith – 1976 – Brad Cullers

Lynn Phillip Seibel

Lynn has had experience as a professional actor in Hollywood and as a professional educator in the Midwest. Lynn has appeared in nearly 60 film and television roles, and has worked with some of the best actors and directors in the business.

A sample of Lynn’s television and film credits include: The Big Bang Theory, Murder She Wrote, Knots Landing, Highway to Heaven, Little House on the Prairie, Fame, Dallas, The Incredible Hulk, General Hospital, The Young and The Restless, Days of Our Lives, Mighty Ducks 3, Cheech and Chong’s Next Movie, and The Embrace of the Vampire.

On stage in Los Angeles, Lynn has received awards and critical acclaim from the Los Angeles Times, Variety, the Los Angeles Drama Critic’s Awards, The LA Weekly Critic’s Awards and the LA Drama-Logue. Lynn has produced and directed over a dozen productions in the Los Angeles and Orange County area, including two world premieres. Lynn directed Marion Ross in the Whole Half, by Hindi Books, and he appeared on stage with Ed Harris in The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury.

He earned his MFA in Directing from UW-Madison—completing his formal education. As an educator, Lynn taught Drama Speech and English in a formal classroom setting at a prestigious College Prep School in Minnesota.

He appeared in 27 titles from 1979 through 2012. His first TV appearance was in “David Cassidy, Man Undercover” in 1979. He also appeared in two episodes of Highway To Heaven.

One Episode of Little House
Whatever Happened To The Class of ‘56 – 1980 – The Bellboy
Charles Refused To Use The Elevator

Today

Robert Casper was born  October 7th of 1924 in Milwaukie, Wisconsin. He appeared in 61 titles from 1955 through 1990. His Television appearances included Maverick, Perry Mason, Batman, Mannix, Mary Tyler Moore, Room 22, Happy Days, Dr. Kildaire, Fantasy Island and Simon & Simon to name a few.

He appeared in one episode of Highway To Heaven entitled "With Love, The Claus" in 1987 as Grinchley. His last appearance was in the TV series “They Came From Outer Space” in 1990. He will be 89 years old in October of this year.

Update: Robert died on March 7th, 2020 in El Paso, Texas. He was 95 years old.

His Appearances as Sherwood Montague on Little House On The Prairie Include:
Hello and Goodbye – Aired March 21, 1983 - Last Regular Episode
Television Movies
Look Back To Yesterday – 1983
Bless All The Dear Children – 1984
The Last Farewell - 1984  

Scene From "Look Back To Yesterday"

Charles "Charlie" J. Kalani, Jr. was born in January of 1930.He was an American professional wrestler, professional boxer, college football player, soldier, actor, and Martial Artist who, in fighting rings, was also known as Professor Toru Tanaka, or simply, Professor Tanaka.

He was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, the son of Charles J. Kalani and Christina Leong Kalani (who was part Chinese). Charlie began studying judo at age nine. At Iolani School (class of 1949), he was a natural at many sports, and Doris Kalani credited his time on the football team with keeping him away from trouble. "He was a street kid getting into trouble and would have ended up in reform school if Father Kenneth A. Bray hadn't helped him out by bringing him to Iolani. He felt Iolani saved him," she told the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.

He left Hawaii for Utah's Weber Junior College (now Weber State University). On December 6, 1951, the Associated Press reported he received honorable mention for playing football at the University of Utah. It was at the University of Utah that he also met his wife Doris in 1952. On December 3, 1952 the Associated Press reported Kalani would become a professional boxer. Drafted into the U.S. Army in 1955, Kalani rose to the rank of sergeant and excelled on the pistol team. For four years, the couple were stationed at a base in Nuremberg, Germany.
After Kalani's discharge from the service in 1966, the couple moved to Monterey, California, where he ran a Judo and Danzan-ryu Jujitsu academy with Professor John Chow-Hoon. San Francisco promoter Roy Shire asked him to wrestle in 1967, but he had to get meaner. "Charlie was almost full-blooded Hawaiian," said Doris. "In wrestling, Hawaii seemed not as exciting as Japan. He has only one living son, Shane Charles Kalani Naruse.

One of the characteristics of Kalani's wrestling gimmick was that he threw salt in his opponents' eyes. Kalani's most famous tag team partner was Harry Fujiwara (better known as Mr. Fuji), whom he knew from high school in Hawaii.

Professor Tanaka was also featured in a television commercial for a brand of rice in Puerto Rico. His other appearance in a commercial was for Colgate toothpaste with Pat Morita. Tanaka was seen as an extra in a few of David Lee Roth's music videos in the mid-1980s.
By the early 1980s, Kalani's body could not handle the beatings in the ring any longer, and he moved into the film world on a more permanent basis. His first film was 1981's An Eye for an Eye and his last film was 1995's Hard Justice. He appeared in Arnold Schwarzenegger's The Running Man as a sadistic ice skating "Stalker" named Professor Subzero who had over 30 lifetime kills and "Slices his enemies limb from limb into quivering, bloody sushi". He also appeared in Chuck Norris' Missing in Action 2: The Beginning and The Butler in Pee-Wee's Big Adventure.

Tanaka was one of three semi-retired professional wrestlers to compete in a tug-of-war match with two other wrestlers teamed up against a large group of children on the Nickelodeon series Wild and Crazy Kids in the early 1990s.

He was in thrity seven productions for 1981 through 1995.

Kalani died of heart failure in Los Angeles on August 22, 2000 at the age of 70. He had a full military funeral.

His Appearances Included
• An Eye for an Eye (1981)
• Angel Of H.E.A.T. (1982)
• Revenge of the Ninja (1983)
• The A-Team - The Maltese Cow (1983)
• Off the Wall (1983)
• Chattanooga Choo Choo (1984)
• Volunteers (1985)
• Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985)
• Missing in Action 2: The Beginning (1985)
• The A-Team - The Spy Who Mugged Me (1986)
• Bad Guys (1986)
• Shanghai Surprise (1986)
• The Running Man (1987)
• Catch The Heat (1987)
• Dead Heat (1988)
• Black Rain (1989)
• Tax Season (1989)
• Darkman (1990)
• Martial Law (1990)
• Deadly Game (1991)
• The Perfect Weapon (1991)
• Alligator II: The Mutation (1991)
• 3 Ninjas (1992)
• Last Action Hero (1993)
• Hard Justice (1995)
One Little House Episode
Alden’s Dilemma – 1982 – Japanese Sumo Wrestler

In The Ring - Professor Toru Tanaka!

Kellye Nakahara was born January 1st, 1950 in Oahu, Hawaii. In addition to acting, she is also a noted watercolor artist. She is graduate of Kalani High School in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Lives in Pasadena, California, where she's involved with the East West Players theater group, the Town Singers vocal group, the Pasadena Cherry Blossom Festival, and as an arts commissioner for the city.

She visits the Ronald McDonald House every year to donate her time and paintings to children there.
Is half Asian, half Hawaiian.  In 2005 she was living in Pasadena, California

You may remember her as Lt. Kellye Yamato in 160 episodes of M*A*S*H……….

She was in twenty productions 1973 through 2000. Little House On The Prairie and M*A*S*H were her last appearances in 1982 and 1983.

Update: She died on February 16th, 2020 in Pasadena, California at the age of 70. .

She Was The Japanese Lady In The Hotel
Where John and Almanzo Stayed In
San Francisco. She Got On Them For Wearing
Shoes In The Hotel.
Alden’s Dilemma – 1982 – Japanese Woman

M*A*S*H - As Lt. Yamato

You are amazing Dave. You must shake bushes to find all this info. Thanks!

Gin wrote:

You are amazing Dave. You must shake bushes to find all this info. Thanks!

And some trees too!You would think with 409 down I would run out! But, every now and then, another one pops up!
Thanks Gin!

Three Of Michael Landon's Children Were On Little House.
Michael Junior and Leslie Were Two of Them.
Shawna Landon was the third. She Was In The Library Scene
At The End of "Once Upon A Time" in Season 9. Aired January, 1983
The Scene Was Shot At The Tucson, Arizona Public Library........

Cool!

Sheldon Allman was born in in June of 1924 in Chicago, Illinois. He was a much sought after character actor who appeared in over 150 film and TV roles. He was raised in Canada and began a singing career with the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II. Was also a graduate of the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music.

He was the singing voice for for television’s “Mr. Ed” in 1958, for which he also wrote and recorded “The Pretty Pink Little Filly With The Ponytail” and “The Empty Feedback Blues.”
He was the co-composer of cartoon theme songs for “George of the Jungle” in 1967, “Superchicken, and “Tom Slick”.

He also composed songs for “Let’s Make A Deal” in 1980 and "The Masquerade Party” TV series in 1974.

He died in January of 2002 at the age of 77 in Culver City, California.

He Was In One Little House Episode
“Remember Me" – 1975 – Jason Anders
Tried To Adopt The Sanderson Boys
Far Left

Mr. Edward's Favorite - The History of "Old Dan Tucker"


Godfrey Tucker was one of eight children of Robert Tucker and Frances Coleman of Virginia. The next to the youngest of the Tucker siblings was Daniel, who is thought to have been the inspiration for the folk song, "Old Dan Tucker."

Daniel Tucker was born in Amelia, Virginia in 1740. According to a 1965 article published in Georgia Magazine, he came to Elbert County in 1798, after having served as a soldier in the American Revolution, and purchased land from John Heard (another ancestor) for $1000; a tract of land of the "Cook's Ferry Tract" on the Savannah River, with a ferry and "all the appertenunces thereof and thereabout." The Georgia Legislature authorized him to keep a public ferry in 1817, from his own land to that of John Spear on the opposite shore. It operated as Tucker's Ferry until the automobile made it obsolete.

Dan Tucker's land was rich farmland and he became a planter, as well as a minister. His legend says that he had a deep sense of responsibility to the slaves and spent his time praying with them and instructing them in religious matters. It is said that he was esteemed by his fellow planters as well as the slaves.

The song itself was published in 1843 by Daniel Decatur Emmett (writer of the song "Dixie") who also claimed to have written it. Dan Emmett performed in blackface in minstrel shows in the 1840's. Some history of the song says that it was written by slaves to whom Rev. Tucker ministered.

Daniel Tucker lived in Elbert County until his death in 1818 at age 78. His grave is on the site of his home, Old Point. There is an historical marker near his home, and he is listed on the Revolutionary War Memorial in Elbert County.


Old Dan Tucker was a fine old man
He washed his face in the frying pan
He combed his hair with a wagon wheel
And died of the toothache in his heel
Chorus:
Get out the way for old Dan Tucker
He's too late to git his supper
Supper's over and dishes washed
Nothing left but a piece of squash
Old Dan Tucker went to town
Riding a mule and leading a hound
Hound barked and mule jumped
Threw old Dan right over a stump
Chorus
I come to town the other night
I hear the noise and saw the fight
The watchman was arunning around
Crying "Old Dan Tucker's come to Town"
Old Dan he went down to the mill
To get some meal to put in the swill
The miller swore by the point of his knife
He never see'd such a man in his life
Tucker is a nice old man
He used to ride our darby ram
He sent him whizzin' down the hill
If he hadn't got up, he'd lay there still
Chorus
Old Dan begun in early life
To play the bango and the fife
He play the children all to sleep
And then into his bunk he'd creep
Chorus